Spring is teasing us in Virginia right now. Yesterday sheand surely spring is an
enchanting sheshowed just enough of herself to get us interested, but not so much
that we take her for granted. She appeared briefly in the form of 69-degree weather, but
flitted away mysteriously, replaced by windy 30s in the dark of night.
Early spring always makes me smile a lot. You expect me to tell you it's the
life-renewing-itself thing, right? But in reality, I like spring because it's warmer than
winter, stays lighter later, and because everyone is still wearing loose-fitting jackets
as opposed to form-fitting bathing suits.

Anyway, smiling at spring got me thinking about things that always make me smile without
exception. I could come up with only three things. (Puppies almost made the list except
puppies sometimes are doing things that no one smiles about.) My big three: stuffed
animals, March 2 and the Silver Diner.
The stuffed animal affection is self-explanatory. I just like them (especially very furry
bearsthey are a rare joy), and they always elicit a grin and a momentary escape from
whatever I am doing. But the date March 2 and the Silver Diner are related and a bit
harder to understand, so I'll explain.

March 2 is the first day I started working in the glass industry. This year was my 20th
anniversary doing so, as I started as an editorial assistant for another glass publication
on March 2, 1981. These are the kinds of dates you remember that no one else really does
or knows. What makes me smile is how I felt that first day. Besides being totally
petrified as I began my first "real job" in the big downtown of Washington,
D.C., I was totally ignorant of the subject matter and the glass industry.

During that day, I attended a half- day training session, after which I was given my first
article to copyedit. Copyediting is more like advanced proofreading and now I was going to
show the editor just what I could do by dazzling him with my first effort. And what did he
give me to cut my teeth on? An article about curtainwall sealants.

Now, before this exact moment, I had never heard of a curtainwall sealant. I'd heard of
curtains and walls but never together in the same word. And I'd seen them talk about
sealants in denture ads, but this was the extent of my knowledge about this topic. But,
heck, I was fearless. I was 22 and I needed the job. So I sharpened my blue pencil, and
started reading. I'd like to say I learned all about failures and water leakage and
deflection and the modulus (plural: moduli, got that right) of elasticity. And I did, too,
until my head hit the desk when I fell asleep while trying to read the third page.
Luckily, the thud of my head hitting the metal of the desk woke me up ... and I remember
thinking, "This is absolutely the most boring article I have ever read and I probably
wont last in this job more than a week." Of course, the fact that I was working
in a glass office and everyone had seen me fall asleep mid-assignment made me think
Id be escorted out that very day (that actually took ten years).

So March 2 always makes me smile because it reminds me of how much longer than a week
Ive stayed in this crazy industry and how much Ive learned and how much I
enjoy it. Ive learned that anything is interesting the more you learn about it, and
that taking the time to understand curtainwall sealants, or any of a million glass-related
topics, is really quite enlightening. The chance to learn a lot about the glass
industryand a lot about business and peoplehas been incredibly rewarding.

During the ensuing years, Ive been fortunate enough to get the chance to start and
run my own business publishing magazines for the glass industry. This is why the Silver
Diner in Woodbridge, Va., always makes me smileand it has nothing to do with the
food.
Back in 1993, our fledgling company got the chance to purchase USGlass magazine. At the
time, USGlass was in a steep decline and there were a lot of rumors that its demise was
imminent. Instead, I was able to work with the suppliers and customers and to borrow more
money than I thought anyone would ever lend to purchase the magazine.

The printer at the time would print no more issues until he was paid. As we didnt
own the magazine yet, but knew missing an issue would be catastrophic, I took a risk and
paid that printer enough money to get the issue released to me. I then called a printer I
had worked with in Virginia and asked them to print USGlass for the first time.

Our sales rep was a wonderful, soft-spoken gentleman named Mike Keefe, who went to bat for
us. As a start-up company, we had no credit history and no real assets. But Mike convinced
his company to give us a hearing. They agreed to print our March 1993 issue and we have
been printing with them ever since that first day.

So it was then I met Mike midway between our respective offices in the very windy parking
lot of the Silver Diner to hand him our first issue off to print.
Two years ago, due to the wonderful support of our customers, suppliers and staff, we made
the last payment on the bank loan. Our company now publishes five regularly scheduled
magazines including AGRR for the auto glass industry, Door & Window Maker for the
fenestration market and Window Film magazine for the film industry.

This month also marks Mike Keefes retirement from our printing company after nearly
20 years of employment there. He was a credit to his companyand the image of him
fighting the wind to take my first born issue of USGlass to be printed in a rainy parking
lot will always make me smile when I pass the Silver Diner.
So as I enter my 21st year doing what I love, thanks to you who read it and to you our
wonderful advertisers who support it and to the suppliers who have, in many ways, become
partners. Our goal is to do the best job possible for you and thank you for the
opportunity to serve.
Happy spring!